Friday, January 10, 2014

P90X3 Review Agility X and Yoga X days 2 and 3

I am in LOVE! P90X3 just might be my new soul mate workout. No offense Chalene and CLX, but this workout is AMAZING!

Yesterday I did Agility X. I was pretty sure I was gonna hate it because I despise cardio. Well, this workout has ZERO weights in it. I hate things without weights, or so I thought!

This fun little workouts has something else instead of free weights or bands. It has these two little pieces of tape, 4 feet long each, placed on the floor. For beginners, they should be 3 foot lengths apart, intermediate should be 4 foot lengths apart, and advanced should be 5 foot lengths apart. On each end of the tape, you need to place a big X and in the middle there needs to be an X. These X's give your eyes a reference point to land. I absolutely needed them!

Agility X was an absolute sports training routine. We zigged zagged, shuffled, jumped (forwards and back), lunged, cross lunged, and more. By the end I was DRIPPING with sweat and I was in love. I can't wait to push myself even harder next time!

Here's the workouts:

Explode and Hold - this workout is a great way to start. It takes a lot of energy and an extreme amount of focus so you don't fall over when you land one-footed!

Y Lunges - these are lunges. I loved them! The key to this movement is to make sure you are stepping out far enough and keeping your knee above your ankle. If you can remember to do that, you won't have any problems with your knees.

Joel Jump Squats - nothing like a little squat action to get your heart pumping! These were fun!

Toe Tap Skater - These little beauties work your outer thigh to the MAX! You stand on the middle X of your left tape with your left leg. Then you squat down and tap your right toe to the back X on the right tape. Raise up on your left leg and squat back down, tapping your right toe on the middle X on the right tape. Last, squat down and tap your right heel to the front X on the right tape. Repeat a bazillion times and then switch legs! FEEL THE BURN!

Near and Farrs - Stand on the outside of your left tape with both feet. let's. Jump on one leg to the inside of the right tape. Lift right leg and land on left leg on the inside of the left tape. Jump to the OUTSIDE of the right tape with the right foot. Reverse to get back to the other side. This one has the ring of "in, in, out, in, in, out" if you were saying it in your head.

Ring around the Posey - Run in circles on the outside of the tape, always facing forward!

Scissor Kick Jumps - Take those Near and Farrs, but instead of jumping, do them scissor kick style. Get those legs up as high as you can!

8 Sprint 3 - the definition in the X3 book is this: "Starting behind the tape, begin to run in a figure-8 pattern either facing the tape, facing the front of the room, or running either side while grapevining in the middle". It's hard to explain and fun to execute!

Plyo V Lunge - these just might be my favorite. Why? Cause they BURN your outer thighs and that's where I need a burn! They are just like the Y lunges, but instead of lunging to the right wihthyour right leg, you lunge to the right with your left leg.

High Step Shuffle - This one is tricky. I have balance issues. HA! You start on the outside of the right tape in the back corner. Face the tape. High knees to the opposite end of the tape (front of right tape), then grapevine in front of the tape to the other end (back of the tape, in between the two strips), then high knees again to the front of the tape on the outside of the left tape. When you get there, grapevine BACK down the middle and high knees again on the outside of the right tape. You are essentially making a figure 8 all while facing one direction. Challenging and fun!

Gump Jump Push-Ups - Get into a push-up position with your legs on the back right X. Your hands should be at or near the front left X. Push-up and jump your legts to the back left X. Adjust your arms over to the front right X. Rinse and repeat as many times as you can with good form!

Tap that Line - To the right of the tape, turn and face the line. Begin to tap the line with your toes while moving completely around the tape. You will only use ONE tape strip for this.

Jump Knee Jump - This one was hard for me. I'm not very good at jumps. Stand to the left of your tape, facing the tape. Power jump over the first line to the middle and then power jump again to the outside of the other tape line. Sprint BACKWARDS to your starting position. To modify, don't do two successive jumps but pause in a squat in the middle. That's what I did!

Triangle Lunges - Start between your two tape strips at the back X. Lunge forward with your left leg to the front X of your left tape. Side lunge with your right leg to the front X on your right tape. Lunge back to starting position with your left leg. Do this for 30 seconds and then switch to the opposite leg.

Squat Jump Lunge - Squat jump in between the two tape lines. When you come back down, turn and lung out to the left, crossing your front leg over the left tape line. Come back to the middle and squat jump again. Turn to the right and lunge out to the right with the opposite leg, crossing your front leg over the right tape line. To get the plyo effect, jump between each move (advanced version). To modify, do a regular squat instead of a squat jump in the middle!

3.4 run - CRAZY. That's what this move is. Plain.Old.Crazy. Tony makes you think like you can keep up. Then he goes all cray cray and it's total madness. But it's a madness that I WILL conquer!

Long Jump Sprint - This is one that surprised me. I actually enjoyed it. See, when I set my tape up, I set up the tape about 6 inches to the left of a seam in our carpet. So while doing these long jumps, I kept challenging myself to try to jump out to the seam. I *almost* was able to get my heels over the line! I will do it next week! So - how to do this move. Stand to the side of the left tape, facing the tape. Squat down and, without propelling yourself with your arms, jump as far as you can forward. Try to at least clear the second tape line. If you can't do that, try to get your toes to the second tape line. Whatever you do, try to push yourself. What helped me was that Tony was standing beside his crew and he was pushing them to go further. If a 55 year old man can jump further than a 25 year old man, something just isn't right. HAHA! Tony CRUSHED them!

Plyo Line Push-Ups - Not gonna lie. I modified the HECK out of these. The instructions are: "In plank position, with your hands on the line, begin to walk the line in plank, or explode up in a lateral plyo push-up, on cue." What does that mean? It means to "walk" left and right on the line in a plank position. Don't let your butt go up or down. You should be straight as a board. Flexing your bum will help keep you flat. To take it a step further, instead of just walking, do pushups as you walk. To go for the advanced move, you should add in a "jump" to the push-up, essentially pushing yourself off the ground as you come up. Thanks but no. I'm not ready for that. To make this move a beginner move, you can do everything on your knees or just hold in plank. Plank can either be on your knees or toes, with straight arms or on your elbows. Whatever works for you.

Agility X is all about "doing your best, and forgetting the rest", as Tony would say. It's about pushing yourself past your limits but not necessarily to where you are hurting yourself. That's never good. Each time you do the workout, try to do one thing in the harder version. Remember, the workout doesn't get easier, YOU GET BETTER! Best part about my workout? My son wanted his own set of tape lines! We had so much fun chasing each other around during the moves. He was even trying to do the walking plyo push-ups with me! Love that kid!

As for X3 Yoga, it is pure HEAVEN! The one thing I couldn't tolerate about P90X the original was the 90 minute yoga dvd. It was just too much for me. A 30 minute version is perfection. Literal perfection. If you think that doing X3 Yoga

is going to be easy or a rest day, you have another thing coming. This routine is HARD. It's a challenge in balance, control, core strength, and pushing yourself past your limits. Just watch Ted. I kinda wanna be Ted when I grow up. He's pretty cool...

All in all, I've really enjoyed this program so far. I got a little behind because of personal reasons. I didn't do my workout on Thursday. So, I made that my rest day, and I will continue on. I will be all caught back up by Monday :)

I will blog later today about how the Challenge goes. I'm gonna be honest. I'm scared...

About Me

Hi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Kelly! I am a 33 year old mom and I wear many hats - wife, mom, music teacher, friend, daughter, Beachbody Coach, cousin, hobbyist photographer, and sister to name a few!
My blog is all about my journey to finally learning to love myself. The journey began after I had my daughter in June of 2012 and I was completely unhappy with my body. I turned to a friend, who happened to be a Beachbody coach, and I haven't looked back. I lost 65 pounds by eating clean, drinking my Shakeology each day and working out for 30 - 60 minutes a day, 6 days a week. I am now working to lose those last few pounds and maintain all of my hard work!